07 August,2023 06:42 AM IST | Mumbai | Dharmendra Jore
The NDA triplets: Eknath Shinde, Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis. Pic/Ashish Raje
Riding high on the numbers more than 200 in the lower house of 288, the NDA triplets Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar didn't have much to worry about in the monsoon session of the legislature. The upper house did tremble a bit, but that was all for a day or two. It also turned out to be the rare session that didn't have an opposition leader in the Assembly for the entire period, barring the last two days on which a senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar led from the front. It is his second consecutive term as the Opposition leader that has come to him in the time of crisis, as was his first brief stint in 2019.
Wadettiwar will have two more sessions, Nagpur's winter in December and the budget in Mumbai, to be held in February-March before the Lok Sabha elections, to leave an impression even as the Opposition has pledged to fight the BJP and its allies, the old and new, together. Unaffected yet by splits and detections, the Congress may have got an upper hand over its fractured allies - the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar).
The stay on Rahul Gandhi's sentence has come as a shot in the arm for the national party that had reached out to several regional parties to consolidate the Opposition front. Named INDIA, the 26-party group is scheduled to meet in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1. The NDA will be monitoring the event closely, trying to see what a normal person cannot be able to observe and understand for its impact. All eyes will be on the selection of the front's convener, if done here as was promised in Bangalore, with so many seniors of contrasting demeanour and thought processes in the reckoning for the post.
It could be yet another opportunity for the state and Mumbai Congress to showcase their strength, not factionalism, while the very important persons of the Opposition ranks are expected to deliberate the Maharashtra capital. Perhaps, it was faction feud in the Congress that Uddhav Thackeray has been given a unilateral command of the organising team. The UBT Sena president will be the chief sherpa, host and coordinator of the event that will also benefit him politically. What began in Bihar under Nitish Kumar and shifted to Bangalore under the Congress leadership, will land in Mumbai, where Thackeray has much at stake. The Congress may not be as powerful in Mumbai, but it surely can pin hopes to be the principal party across the state, if played well in the changed scenarios. Sharad Pawar's Numero Uno leadership position in the MVA will not change despite the doubts cast in view of the NCP's current state of affairs. All three need each other. The projection of unity will go thicker, especially in the Maharashtra camp, when the national guests gather in the city. It is to be seen how the NDA triplets, especially Ajit Pawar, are targeted by the united opposition, of which his uncle is an integral part.
Two previous INDIA events were held in the Opposition-ruled states. Mumbai's will be in the NDA state, where unprecedented politics has taken place since 2019, the latest episode being Ajit Pawar's break-up with his uncle Sharad Pawar. Sparks continue to fly between the ruling and Opposition camps, but an aberration has been observed in the NCP camp. In the legislature, confrontation was avoided by the uncle-nephew factions. It was as if the two were still one, a united group that met warmly and was seen together outside the house, but meticulous when it came to not taking sides in the house. The rebel ministers and seniors from the uncle faction sat opposite, but most of the other party MLAs gave sittings a miss. There was a time someone asked about it, and state Congress president Nana Patole posed a question to Speaker Rahul Narvekar, "Can you please tell the house how many MLAs are on Ajit Pawar's side?" The answer may never come, not until the term of this Vidhan Sabha ends and election tickets are distributed by both factions.
And one more thing that might interest politically aware readers. Ajit Pawar is unlikely to stop inducting leaders from the other faction. It is said one cabinet minister's seat has been kept reserved for a senior leader who Ajit and Devendra Fadnavis would like to have in their rank. The leader, always projected as Ajit's bete noire and Sharad Pawar's confidant, has denied the shift, but then things have been such that most speculations have been coming true, notwithstanding that they were dismissed as unfounded initially.
Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore
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